The Book of Not Knowing: Exploring the True Nature of Self, Mind, and Consciousness PDF
Preview The Book of Not Knowing: Exploring the True Nature of Self, Mind, and Consciousness
Other books by Peter Ralston The Principles of Effortless Power The Art of Effortless Power Reflections of Being Ancient Wisdom, New Spirit Zen Body-Being TABLE OF CONTENTS I N T R O D U C T I O N : Grounded Enlightenment PART I: Questioning the Obvious CHAPTER ONE: A Powerful Openness Beginning to Wonder Beyond the Self Mind Knowing and Not-Knowing Self and Being CHAPTER TWO: Moving Beyond Belief Learning to Not-Know Natural Contemplation Zen Influence Relating Differently to Beliefs Creating a New Perspective Empty Your Cup CHAPTER THREE: The Cultural Matrix We Are Culture Not-Knowing in Our Culture The Self in Our Culture The Cost of Our Assumptions Your Own Experience of These Consequences CHAPTER FOUR: An Experience of Not-Knowing Learning versus Knowing Thinking without a Net What Is an Experience? What Is an Experience of Not-Knowing? What Is an Insight? CHAPTER FIVE: The Principles of Discovery Four Cornerstones of Discovery Authentic Experience Honesty Grounded Openness Questioning Embracing Paradox PART II: Our Self Experience CHAPTER SIX: Conceptual Dominance Creating a Conceptual World What Is a Concept? Concepts Dominate Our Perceptions There’s More to Perception than Meets the Eye The Solidification of Concepts Challenging Conceptual Dominance CHAPTER SEVEN: You Don’t Have to Rehearse to Be Yourself Being Yourself The Real and the False Masks and Hats Superficial Remedies Looking for Self in All the Wrong Places CHAPTER EIGHT: Unknown Origins Our “Need to Know” Level of Consciousness Mistaking the Uncognized Mind for the Real Self The Origins of Your Self PART III: In Search of Real Being CHAPTER NINE: What Am I? Our Experience of “Being” Identifying Ourselves Our Conceptual Self Experience CHAPTER TEN: Self and Being What Is a Self? What Is Being? What Is Your Self and What Is Being? CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Self: Noun or Verb? Am I a Noun or a Verb? To Noun or to Verb? “Doing” versus “Being” PART IV: Creating Self CHAPTER TWELVE: Inventing Self and World The Self-Identity Reinforces Itself The Never-Ending Story of Me Inventions Inventing Personalized Worlds Manipulating Circumstances CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Lost in Translation What Is Not and Never Was Interpretation Revisited Reconstructive Interpretation Self as We Know It Life in the Loop CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Creating an Experience of Self The Myth of Real Self Apples and Oranges Believing in Your Self Mandatory Misrepresentation Living as a False-Self The Snowball Effect Assembling a Particular Self The Way You Are in Particular CHAPTER FIFTEEN: The Self Principle All about You Meaning Steers the Self Two Domains of Survival: Physical and Conceptual Social Survival To Be Frank Surviving as a Self CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Survival Is Not Being Three Distinctions in Consciousness What Is “For-Itself”? Beyond Happiness and Suffering: Perceiving Something For-Itself For-Itself versus As-Itself Experiencing the Truth Is Not the Purpose of Self-Survival For-Itself versus As-Itself—an Ontological Overview Surviving Isn’t Being What Does Persist? Entertaining the Possibility of Not Surviving PART V: Penetrating Experience CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Recognizing Self-Survival in Your Own Experience Getting from Here to There What Is Being at Effect? Becoming More Conscious of Effects Experiencing Something For- Itself Changing from Reaction to Experience Changing Context Changes Effects CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Beyond Belief A Quick Review of Belief Getting Free of Our Need to Believe On the Shoulders of Giants Using Beliefs as a Map Radical Openness Eliminating Beliefs The Practice of Dispelling Beliefs A New Experience in Consciousness CHAPTER NINETEEN: Freedom from Assumptions—Part One Making Connections Emptiness CHAPTER TWENTY: Freedom from Assumptions—Part Two Self-Doubt Feeling Trapped Suffering Struggle CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Contemplation Creating a Place to Stand Being as Unknown Contemplation Pre-contemplation Contemplating Developing a Steady Practice Looking Both Ways CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: Awakening the Uncognized Mind Finding Our Way into the Unconscious Contemplating the Uncognized Mind The Process of Contemplating Uncognized Mind Explaining the Process A Sample Bottom-Line Contemplation Guidelines for Your Bottom- Line Contemplation Five Points of Reference PART VI: The Nature of Reality CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: The Nature of Emotion Fear Anger Desire Pain CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: The Nature of Everything What Is Everything? The Distinction “Distinction” Distinctions and Existence CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: The Nature of Being Meaning Doesn’t Mean Anything In Search of Absolute Knowledge The Possibility of Direct Consciousness The Nature of Being The Paradox of Being Being and Self CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: Being and Life What Now? Life Principles Happiness: Don’t Want It Discipline and Freedom The Lava Syndrome A Final Word INTRODUCTION Grounded Enlightenment Just as suddenly as a bubble bursting, my mind opened up to a new level of consciousness and I felt my sense of self completely dissolve.… In that instant, I became clearly and absolutely conscious of who and what I am.… —Peter Ralston 1 For forty years I’ve had the good fortune of being able to make a living teaching in two extraordinary fields: martial arts and ontology—the investigation of the nature of being. My reputation as a martial artist is what draws most people to study with me— in 1978 I was the first non-Asian to win the full-contact World Championships held in China, and I am considered to be among the best in the world. I might be better than most at fighting, but as every new student of mine quickly discovers, the heart of my work has always been “consciousness.” 2 While it was increased consciousness that transformed my skills to the level of mastery, some people are still a bit surprised to learn that everything I teach in the physical domain —from effective body-being to the Art of Effortless Power—relies heavily on mind work as a foundation. In Japan, the samurai began to practice Zen contemplation because it made them better warriors, but this connection was discovered much earlier, almost by accident, in the Zen monasteries of ancient China. Long hours of stillness in contemplation can be detrimental to the body, so the monks began to incorporate calisthenics, and over time this practice evolved into martial arts. 3 The study of consciousness itself can stand entirely on its own and does not require any physical activity. For me the fluid, ever-changing action of fighting provided an excellent way to investigate all aspects of “being,” allowing access to areas of the mind that remain obscure to most people. Both my physical training and my contemplation work were always driven by a fascination with uncovering the truth behind the human condition. I was relentless in my pursuit of understanding every facet of being human, including the nature of perception, relationships, and even reality itself. An essential contribution to this effort was a breakthrough in consciousness, which Zen people call an “enlightenment.” 4 There is a lot of misunderstanding about enlightenment in our culture, and such an experience is too often shrouded in mystery and fantasy. It is a life-altering leap in consciousness, but one enlightenment doesn’t necessarily turn you into some wizened old sage, and practically everyone is capable of having such an experience. For me, it was a beginning, an entrance into a completely new and inconceivable consciousness. It is impossible to accurately convey such an experience, but I’ll try to give you some idea what my first enlightenment was like: I’d just finished several days of intense contemplation. I’d never worked harder at anything in my life, and yet I hadn’t become conscious of the nature of my own self. I was still at the meditation hall the following morning, sitting contentedly against the wall in a sunlit loft, when I had the most remarkable experience. Just as suddenly as a bubble bursting, my mind opened up to a new level of consciousness, and I felt my familiar sense of self completely dissolve. It seemed like my awareness both expanded and merged with what had always been true: the very essence of “being.” It was unlike anything I’d ever known, and no description could do justice to the experience. In that instant, I was clearly and absolutely conscious of who and what I am. A deep sense of peace washed over me, and also an unexpected feeling of freedom. No joy I had ever experienced even remotely compared to this awakening. My mind was freed of burdens that I didn’t know I had. Assumptions about reality and limitations in my awareness just disappeared. My sense of self was … open and without location. A sense of calm, lightness, and ease saturated my being,
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